Fears
by Tari Silmarwen
Summary: Nightwing and Starfire encounter Phobia.


(A/N)- Got a prompt that asked for Nightwing, Starfire, and Phobia, ostensibly because my anons are masochists and like pain.

Which was fine by me as I am also a masochist.

Enjoy the angst!

Disclaimer: DC Comics, sadly, does not belong to me. There might have been significantly less narrative betrayal if it did, but such is life. Some days you just gotta write fanfic.

* * *

 **Fears**

His nightmare was the usual assortment of things first: Batman telling him he was disappointed in him, threatening to bench him, disowning him, dying seconds before Nightwing could save him and cursing him with his last breath. His friends being endangered, the Titans suffering gruesome fates one by one while he was helpless to stop it. His parents falling, over and over again.

Interspersed between was a clear scene of Kory being tortured in front of him. Whenever he tried to shake himself out of this nightmare, push back against the choking cloud of fear that permeated his mind, the picture of her screaming face would enter his vision, dropping him back in, making his heart surge with terror and submerging him once more into this chaotic, disjointed hell. Vaguely, something in the back of his mind noted that this wasn't her usual MO, felt like the scenes that passed before him should be more internally coherent and solid, but cowed by his own fear he couldn't remember who "she" was or why this rush of images should be something unusual for her.

He couldn't remember much of anything outside this nightmare, really.

-NTT-

Her nightmare was simple. She was on a ship–a Citadel ship, miles away from Earth–surrounded by Psion scientists. She was restrained, and they were looming over her. Sticking needles and tubes in her. Shooting her body through with agonizing energy. She could feel it burning through her veins, hot fire ripping her apart from the inside. Overloading her head and her senses. Making her explode starbolt energy in all directions.

They would stop pumping energy into her for only a moment, only so she could pant and catch her breath, and then they turned their machines on again, shooting more and more into her each time, seeing how much she could take. She screamed wordlessly, incoherent, unable to even form the words to beg them to stop.

They paused again, and Starfire inhaled rapidly, her chest heaving in and out, terrified and exhausted and not sure how much more she could take before her heart would have to give out. She could see the void of space outside the window, cold and unfeeling, and felt a well of loneliness bubble in her stomach.

Then her reprieve was over. White-hot pain shot through her and this time she felt air rushing down her lungs, felt her vocal chords vibrate as the scream tore from her throat.

-NTT-

The image of Kory's torture came to him again, clearer than ever before. Her shrieking rang in his ears, igniting panic in his heart and this time he thrust forward into the scene.

"Kory!" he cried, dragging his arms and legs against some unseen weight pulling him back, slowing his movement. He waded through the fear, struggling towards the image of her curled up in pain. "Hang on! I'm coming, Kory!" he yelled, reaching out a hand towards her. "I'm–"

-NTT-

He sat bolt upright on the floor. "–coming!"

Nightwing blinked, taking in his new surroundings in bewilderment. He was sitting on the ground, inside a dark, computer-bank lined room, staring up at the startled, wide-eyed expression of a woman swathed all in green, standing above him with her arms outstretched in supplication.

In the milliseconds that followed Nightwing recognized her, remembered what had led to their encounter with her, and rolled up to his feet with a furious roar, drawing his fist back.

-NTT-

The energy spiked and it seemed for a moment she would burst but then the Psions turned off the machine again. The pain faded away. All sensations did and she could no longer feel the table beneath her. Instead, she felt a cold smoothness against her side. It was dark and her limbs were curled around her. Her eyes were squeezed closed. They must have moved her to the floor.

She sensed a figure looming over her, the hands of Psions grabbing hold of her shoulders and she shrieked and lashed out weakly.

"Kory, it's me!" a familiar voice said. "It's all right! It's _me!_ "

She blinked. It wasn't a Psion holding her. It was Nightwing. It was his gloved hands that were on her shoulders. And… she wasn't on a Psion ship. She was sitting on the floor, inside a tech lab.

"Dick…?" she breathed, bewildered, trying to make sense of things. "Wh… what…?"

"Shh," he told her, folding her trembling body into his arms, themselves shaking, quivering with lingering fear. "It's okay," he whispered, his voice faint and quaking. "It's okay, Kory. We're okay. I'm here." He buried his hands into her hair and held her close, and his familiar scent entered her mind and soothed her, almost automatically.

She looked past his shoulder, spying the prone body of a woman on the floor behind them. She took in the details of the woman's costume, memory tugging on a corner of her mind. Phobia. That explained things.

"Oh god, Kory…" Nightwing was saying. "You were screaming. It sounded so close."

"My vision was rather… realistic," she explained, her arms coming up to hold him. "I guess I must've cried out in reality too."

He clutched her tighter. "She was everywhere," he breathed. "In every crack and crevice, drawing out all my fears and insecurities in a never-ending stream," he was babbling. "I think… she was trying to keep me distracted. If she lingered too long in any one scenario I'd figure it out and wake up… So she overloaded me with _everything._ "

It was her turn to shush him. Her hands traced through his short hair, petting him comfortingly. "You're safe now," she told him. "The nightmare is over." She pulled him close and whispered it into his ear. "You're safe."

They lingered there, holding each other in the dark for a long time.


End file.
